Spectacle temple



Al1g- 27, 1935.V G. M. HEFNER v 2,012,759

SPECTACLE TEMPLE Filed Sept. '7, 1934 f 6 faja. fd /W C ,JF A

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Z M. l fw@ Patented Aug. 27, 1935 UNiTEo STATES 2,012,759 SPECTACLETEM-BLE George Hefner, Pr.ovidence,`R.v I., assignor of Aone-half toPaul Potvin, Providencak. I.

.Applimnn september 7, A:1934, --seriai 743,0.61

4 claims.

`'Ihis'invention pertains to spectacle" `temples, and relates moreparticularly to` an improved spectacle temple of the hooked type. Thehooked type'temple is recommended by many .opticians and is demanded bymany Wearers sincel when properly made and fitted it securely holdsthelenses in'proper 'position .and prevents the .lo-ridge Vpiece fromslippingdown .on the'wearers nose.

However, to be acceptable to the wearer, it is substantially necessaryto make :the hooked end of thetemple `oluite'ilexible so that it mayreadily be passed overandV around the ear in idonning the spectacles,and ,on the other hand, 'in order to avoid discomfort to thewearer, thesurface of the hooked portion which embraces and presses against the earshould he Vof substantial Width in a horizontal direction. VTemplesconsisting of a plain wire of circular section bent to formthe hookportion, must Vbe of such small diameter, in order to obtainv thedesired iiexibility, that they tend to cut into the ear and to causedis'- comfort, and Wire of such small diameter is easily Abent anddistorted so' that theftem'ple fai-1s to function'properly after a very'shortlperiodof use. In the -eifort to' avoid these diiiiculties it hasva coil of'very fine Wirew'ound 4to provide ani-'out-A side diameter ofthe desired dimensions. :'Whil'e such a coil'may have the desiredrexibility and diameter it does not meet all of Ythe other Yrequirements.For example, such a coil, made of y the extremely ne Wire requisite forthe purpose, Will not long retain the curvature imposed'upon it infitting the spectacles, but soon tends to straighten or to assume anirregular shape'so that the spectacles are no longer held up at 'theproper point on the'nose or may even be held in a laterally tiltedposition, to the great detriment of the wearers vision. Furthermore, theattachment of the coil by means of solder to the endl of the templeproper usually draws the temper-'or otherwise' injures thevwire of the4coil at this point Aso that it tends to bend sharply at the joint` whenthe spectacles are donned or doedand may eventually break off.' Thisfact is so' Well recognized that Opticians frequently warn theirpatients totakeca're not to bend the temple sharply at thispoint.Moreover, the

' manufacturing cost of the `coil itself and of attaching the -coil tothe temple proper issubstantially greater than'when a single.` unitary(C1. rs- 52) o 'length of material' is employed. :Furthermore `the ney.Wire of which the .coil is made-:usually has .an :extremely thinplating .or Ycoating `of gold or silvenand after a short period of :usethis wears ia/Way, exposing .the `:baseA vmetal to view, while thei-nterstices of such Aa coil'A permit lodge ment ofk organic'rsubstancesnot Yfrom .a sanitary standpoint. .l

The Vprincipal v.object .of :the present invention is to .provideavspectacle temple `having a.' hooked end ofsuc'h -crosssectionalfshapethat it will :be .comfortable `tov-the wearer; so flexible that itmay be donned or defied readily; 'but lwhich at .the same time has sohigh an' elastic ylimit .and istso resilient that itwvill retain .thecontour imposed during. ttingrthroug'hout along period' .of use. --Afur-ther `object is to `provide a. spectacle temple having v'the aboveA:described fcha-racteristics .and which may be made cheaply and easily;which 'may be made of a material :that Will'not `tarnish i,

or lose its surface iinishreadily; and to provide a templehavling a hookportion `of sanitary .character free from cracksor crevices'in whichdirt mightcollect. Y 1

With these andothefr objects in view Ihave provided the improved templevmore fully deatiall `desirable scribed hereinafter, one lembodiment of`which is ing drawing'in whichM Fig. l is aperspective View of 'a pairof .spectacles provided with temples made in accordance with myinventionk" f Fig'. 2is a side elevation of my improved temple, `withcertain parts v`broken away, and to large scale; .i 'Y Y "Figs, 3, v4, 5and 6 are transverse sections, to larger scale, .substantially on thelines 3 3, 4 4, 5-J-5 andVS-, respectively, of'Fig. 2; l

Fig. 7 Y,is 'a plan view of the temple shown Vinv F-ig 2; and y." Y.Figs, 8, 9, 'l0 `and 11 are side elevations illustr-ating a seriesofsteps which may conveniently `be followed in preparing the temple of thepresent invention. Y l `Referring to the drawing, the numeral'lindicates aV pair of spectacles embodying my presillustrated by Way ofexample inthe accompany ent invention, said spectacles comprising theenlarged -head il to receive the pivot member of lthe hinge.

Vthe `although not necessarily, the lateral edges I5 In preparing myimproved temple I preferably proceed in accordance 'with the followingSteps, although I contemplate that my improved temple may be madeinvaccordance with other modes of procedure. Referring to Fig. 8, I haveillustrated a piecev of round wire conveniently constituting the stockfrom which the temple is formed. This wire may be of any suitablematerial appropriate -for-the purpose, for example, brass, steel, silveror gold alloys, German silver, or of any of such materials plated orotherwise coated or covered with gold, silver, ,platinum` or the like,butl in any case such wire should have a smooth, preferably polishedsurface, and should be of a material which acquires a high elastic limitwhen cold worked, as forexample, by drawing, rolling, or die pressing,so that the lhooked portion, after it has'been"`curved to the desired icontour, may be highly retentive of such curvature.

Havingprovided apiece of wire I0 of the proper material'and of -a.proper diameten'I first proceed (as for'examplebyY pressure betweendies) to 'reduce this wire as illustrated in Fig. 9 so as to leave aportion Ifof the original diameter and to provide a portion 'Ia of asmaller diameter "suitable for the side part of the completed temple.

so aslto provide'the substantially flat, parallel upper and lowersurfaces II and I2, (Fig. 3) respectively, the vertical dimensionofvthis forward portion of the temple as thus formed preferably beingsubstantially equal tothe diameter of the side portion 1.'.Concomitantlyror subsequently to this flattening of the forwardportionI upset the metal .and properly shape it to form the head 9 whichreceives the pivot'pin..

Either before or after the shaping of the forward part of the 'temple Iflatten the part 8a so as to provide the upper and lower surfaces I3 andI4 (Figs. 6 and 11). ,Thesesurfacesmay be at and parallel, ifdesired,"although I prefer to make these surfaces slightly curved asillustrated in Fig. 6 so that the cross sectionV may more or lessapproach an oval shape, the majoraxis of section being horizontal.Perferably,

and yIIS Vof this hook portion kmay be flat and parallel, but in anyevent I prefer that all of the corners be somewhatfrounded, to provide agood finish and to avoid discomfort to the wearer. In so shaping theportion 8a, which is to constitute thehook end of the temple, Ipreferably reduce its Vertical thickness substantially and ythusincrease its width to such an extent that the lateral surfaces I5 and I6lie substantially in the sam'e Vertical planes as the lateral fsurfacesI-'I and IIL-respectively, of vtheforward portion of the temple. This ishighly desirable, particularlyfas respects the surfaces I5 and II, sincefor properandeifective fitting, itis desirable to haveA the` surface I5(which contacts with the side of the wearers headbehind the ear) inalignment with the edge Il; Inflattening the part 8a" as abovedescribed, 'I preferably sogwork the metal that.the.crosssection oftheside Vportion 'I gradually merges in a long taper as shown at I9 intovthe cross section of the hook portion 8,- the section 20, as shown inFig. 5, being intermediate between the circular section of the sidemember 1 and the horizontal oval of the hook portion ,8. This long taperavoids any substantial tendency of the temple to break at the junctionof the side portion with the hook portion and distributes the bendduring donning and doiiing or"` the spectacles over a substantial lengthof the temple. However,fthe major partof the hook portion is of uniformcross section.

Either simultaneously with or subsequentially to the iiattening of thehook portion, for example Y in fitting the spectacles, the hook portionhas imposedthereon a curvature in the vertical plane. rIfhis curvatureof the hook portion is so performed .as to .stressV the material beyondits elastic limit, it being noted-that Vthe flattening of the hookportion as above described, as by rolling or die pressing, has furtherraised the elastic limit so .that the metalis hard', denseandhighly'resilient. However, since this metal of the hook portion isrelatively thin in a vertical direction, it is quite iiexible, althoughvery retentive of the curvature which is impressed thereon, while at thesaine time'its greater dimension horizontally effectually maintains theimposed curvature in the vertical planev and avoids twist anddeformation laterally `,during use. It will bernoted that 'this temple,made out of a unitary piece of material, does not necessitate anysoldering or other operation which unduly heats the ymetal so as locallyto destroy its temper orV hardness, while, on the other hand, thesuccessive cold workings of the metal as above referred to, raise itslimit `of elasticity and greatly increase its resiliency and capabilityof retaining the shape finally imposed thereon. Furthermore,v thematerial has a smooth surface devoid of Acracks or crevices,'and byreason of the shape of the temple at its suc- 4cessivesectionsV aslabove described, the flexing yof thetemple necessary in donning thespectacles, lis distributed over a very substantial part of the temple,asillustrated in broken lines in Fig. 1, so that there is little?tendency forr the temple to break Vor to Abe permanently bent out of itsin'- tended shape. e

For convenience in description-I have 'used the terms vertical andyfhorizontal herein as applying to the temple when inthe position itocvCupies in ordinary use, but with the understanding that these termsare only so employed in a relative sense and for ready reference.'-

I claim:V

l. A lspectacle ,temple consisting of Va single f Vmaior'dimensionhorizontal, the material of the vhook portion being hardened bycold'working and being flexible, resilient, and highly retentive of itsVertical curvature.

2. A spectacle temple consisting of a single unitary piece of material,said temple comprising a forward portion, a` side portion and ja hookportion, the cross-sectional area of the hook portion being less thanthat of the forward portion,

thevhorizontal dimension of the hook portion, in transverse section,beingsubstantially equal to that of the forward portion, the hookportion being of work-hardened material suiiiciently flexible to permitready donning but having a high elastic limit such that it is retentiveof its vertical curvature.

3. A spectacle temple consisting of afsingle integral length of metal,said temple comprising a forward portion, a side portion and a hookportion, the cross-sectional areas of the forward portion and of theside portion being greater than that of the hook portion, the lateraledges of the hook portion lying substantially in the same Verticalplanes as the lateral edges of the forward portion, the cross-sectionalshape of the side portion merging gradually and Without any abruptShoulder into the cross-sectional shape of the hook portion, thematerial of the latter being Work-hardened and of a high elastic limitbut being so ilexible as to permit the spectacles readily to be donnedby the user.

4. A spectacle temple consisting of a single integral length of metalhaving a smoothly finished outer surface substantially. devoid ofcrevices, said temple comprising a side portion and a. hook portion, thecross-sectional area of the hook portion being less than that of theside portion, the cross section of the hook portion being substantiallyoval with its major axis substantially horizontal and merging gradually,and without an abrupt shoulder, into the cross section of the sideportion, the material of the hook portion f being flexible and of *avhigh elastic limit and GEORGE M. HEFNER.

